Sen. Tina Smith has narrowly won her reelection bid against opponent Jason Lewis, securing her office for six years.

Smith beat Lewis by about 6 percentage points, winning the state with 49.4% of the vote, according to the Associated Press. She won the 2018 special election to take over the remainder of Al Franken’s term, and previously served as Minnesota’s Lieutenant Governor for three years before her time in the Senate.

“I am honored, and grateful, that you have re-elected me to serve you in Washington,” Smith addressed Minnesota in an email statement following her win’s confirmation. “And every week, I will go to work thinking about you, and working for you.”

While Smith has been heavily critical of Lewis, stating that he stands for “chaos” and “hatred” – and similarly criticizing President Trump – she expressed the desire for unity in her statement and offered him best wishes.

“To all the Minnesotans who voted for Mr. Lewis, I want you to know that I am your Senator also,” Smith said.

Smith and Rep. Ilhan Omar, who was also victorious in her reelection bid, made an appearance on the University of Minnesota campus to rally young voters to vote on Tuesday. Last year, Smith introduced a set of bills aimed at improving financial transparency for students and families paying for college.

“The truth is, most issues that families face aren’t political, they are about your lives, your jobs, your family’s well-being,” Smith said in her statement. “I won’t forget that.”

Abdoulaye Cisse was described as a leader, full of potential, humility and intelligence and a loyal member of the Minnesota National Guard, his family and his community. Many friends and family members still recall him this way, over a year since his tragic murder in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood on Oct. 16, 2019 — his 27th birthday.

His murder remains unsolved, leaving his loved ones still seeking justice and community concerns seemingly unaddressed. Cisse’s family want his murderer caught, and community members want to know why the University did not take more action to warn students of a murder in their neighborhood.

In the early morning hours of his birthday, police found Cisse near 7th Street Southeast and 5th Avenue Southeast. He was later declared dead from a stab wound to the chest at the Hennepin County Medical Center.

“A lot of us have questions,” said Alioune Samb, a family friend and University alum. “For someone that was so helpful and so kind, what could have happened for something to escalate to that level? There’s so much we don’t know.”

Cisse’s death, with no immediately apparent leads to a suspect, sparked deep worry throughout the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood. Many students wondered why they received no security alerts from the University alert service, despite so many students and faculty living in the neighborhood, including Cisse’s younger sister, who lived with him at the time.

Cisse belonged to the tightly-knit Senegalese and Gambian community of Minneapolis and was the son of Senegalese immigrants. Growing up, Cisse’s home was often full of family members, related not by blood but by culture, gathering for meals made up of dishes from Senegal or Gambia.

Now, most of Cisse’s blood relatives have returned to Senegal, according to family friends.

Alkali Yaffa, a member of the Minnesota National Guard, was an active duty soldier and friend of the Cisse family who recalled how Cisse inspired other national guard members.

“Soldiers would come up talking about how he inspired them to go back to school,” he said. “He had so much to offer, so much to give. So smart and so talented.”

Family members and friends started a petition a couple months ago, calling for the Minneapolis Police Department, the Minnesota attorney general, Minnesota National Guard and the U.S. Department of Justice to create a special task force for the case. Additionally, the family asked those institutions to launch media campaigns and to “serve justice … in helping the family get closure.”

In a town hall safety meeting on Oct. 22 last year, community members and students expressed concern over police staffing in Marcy-Holmes as well University policy involving safety notifications.

MPD could not be reached for comment on the investigation. However, MPD Crime Prevention Specialist Nick Juarez said that following the murder, MPD increased nighttime patrols in Marcy-Holmes and instituted more neighborhood safety walks, though these measures were cut down by COVID-19.

The University of Minnesota Police Department does not have jurisdiction over the area in which Cisse was murdered, according to a University spokesperson. UMPD sends alerts outlining if an incident is a threat to campus based on criteria outlined in a federal statute known as the Clery Act.

That threat is usually up to interpretation.

The Clery Act specifically designates boundaries for areas on and around campus that would require a safety notification should an incident qualify for that notification.

UMPD was not present at the 2019 safety meeting. It is unclear whether the department has addressed student concerns since. A University spokesperson said that UMPD encourages students living outside its jurisdiction to seek other alert systems and resources to keep updated on crimes in their area.

On Oct. 16, what would have been Cisse’s 28th birthday, the Minnesota National Guard held a memorial for the fallen sergeant, where friends and family honored his service to his country and praised his character.

Cherno Bah, affectionately known as “tonto” — or “uncle” — to Cisse, wrote this of the young man nicknamed “Baby Laye” in part of a poem submitted to the Minnesota Daily:

“You are brave and courageous,
and a soldier with no retreat.
Your war boots soaked wet
And your golden sword never blunt …”

Anyone with information about the murder of Abdoulaye Cisse is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). All tips are anonymous. You may also email justice4sgtabdoulayecisse@gmail.com.

After seven months and five special sessions, lawmakers passed a $1.87 billion bonding bill Thursday that includes more than $75 million in funding for University of Minnesota projects.

Lawmakers pushed the bonding bill past the May legislative session in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, many University infrastructure repairs were put on hold — until now.

The funds will go to various projects across University campuses, including $38.5 million for asset repair and maintenance across the University system, $29.2 million to replace the Child Development Building, $3.3 million to renovate the Chemistry Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory on the Twin Cities campus and $4.4 million to renovate A.B. Anderson Hall on the Duluth campus.

“With the Legislature’s action this week, the University will help lead the state’s economic recovery during this challenging period of our shared history,” said University president Joan Gabel in a University press release.

The University requested $317.2 million in capital investments from the legislature, and the newly-passed bill does not include funding for a clinical research facility. However, the legislation gave permission for the University to refinance current debt to help fund this project.

Sen. Kari Dzeidzic, DFL-Minneapolis, who represents part of the University campus, voted yes on the bonding bill, saying in a press release that it “creates much-needed jobs needed to boost our economy during the pandemic,” including on the University campuses.

Gabel also emphasized the importance of job creation in a University press release, and stated that the University is a vital part of Minnesota’s COVID-19 prevention — something the provided funds will help spearhead.

Following the recent reopening of the Health Commons amid the coronavirus pandemic, M Health Fairview — a partnership with Fairview and the University of Minnesota — is exploring new ways to support the Cedar-Riverside community.

On Sept. 24, M Health Fairview, alongside other community institutions, publicly announced several new initiatives at Health Commons’ new location in Riverside Plaza. Cedar-Riverside is known for its largely East African immigrant population and has been hit hard by COVID-19 and by the opioid crisis. Services and initiatives include the hiring of a local Somali nurse, socially-distanced community spaces, a peer recovery specialist and new mental health and addiction programs.

The organization’s goal is to better serve the community in these areas by creating an environment where the community feels comfortable and understood.

In 2018, 343 Minnesotans died from opioid overdose, and more than one-third of those deaths were in Hennepin County, according data from the Minnesota Department of Health and the county. Statewide, 1,949 nonfatal opioid-involved overdoses also occurred.

“We have these kinds of services that are culturally inclusive right in the neighborhoods so that they don’t have to worry about barriers,” said Nawal Hirsi, the community engagement manager for Health Commons.

Obstacles like language, cultural differences and transportation are often unfair “social determinants of health” that can limit accessibility to health resources in communities like Cedar-Riverside, according to Hirsi.

M Health Fairview also included Cedar-Riverside in its annual mobile Minnesota Immunization Networking Initiative (MINI) clinic to offer the neighborhood free flu shots. The MINI clinic runs more than 100 mobile clinics throughout the metro area in the months leading up to flu season each year.

Concern is building nationwide for the upcoming flu season as it clashes with increasing COVID-19 cases, especially in communities with limited access to health services.

“It’s more important than ever to get your flu shot,” said Ingrid Johansen, M Health Fairview’s manager of Clinical Care and Outreach and Community Advancement who has spearheaded the MINI Clinic since its start. “We don’t want people to skip it this year because of just added barriers and concerns over COVID.”

Over the last 14 years, MINI clinic has given out more than 90,000 flu shots to neighborhoods across the Twin Cities and now offers COVID-19 testing.

Council member Jamal Osman and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also showed support for the new expansion. Both were present at the reopening last month.

“This is not just about Band-Aids and pharmaceuticals,” Frey said. “This is creating a continuum of care that is culturally informed and comfortable for anyone in the neighborhood.”

Osman, the newly elected Ward 6 council member, is open about his passion for combating the opioid crisis and breaking down cultural stigmas surrounding mental health. He said he thinks that services like those at Health Commons are a great first step to healing neighborhoods and strengthening Cedar-Riverside.

“We can educate the community that [they’re] not alone,” Osman said. “Get rid of the stigma, and help the community heal.”

Correction: A previous version of this article mischaracterized the relationship between M Health Fairview and the University of Minnesota.

For the workers of Surly Brewing Company, fighting for their jobs is not just about the money but about the community — something many workers said they are not willing to leave behind just yet.

The brewing company announced the shutdown of its beer hall just days after its hospitality workers attempted to unionize. Despite this, workers are pushing to get their union recognized by the owner, Omar Ansari, and fighting to keep the co-workers they call family together.

“The Surly family was nothing short of amazing,” said Natalie Newcomer, one of the primary faces of the “Unite Surly Workers” movement.

She was also the only worker fired among 150 employees at the company, while others were laid off and would keep their positions until Nov. 2. Newcomer said the letter came shortly after she led discussions on unionizing, which were just gaining traction in early August.

She also said she was fired because of her performance, despite being the first worker asked to come back when the store reopened following pandemic shutdowns.

Pizza cook Andy Magill said the business became home to him after working at Surly for a year and a half. When he moved back to Minneapolis after attending school in Denver and had trouble reconnecting with old friends, Surly provided him with the community he needed.

“It’s this melting pot of weirdos and misfits that don’t fit anywhere else but Surly,” Magill said. “They’re all really accepting, and we’re really close.”

It is that closeness, Magill said, that made Surly run so successfully.

“I was super proud to work there,” Newcomer said. “Like my friends would brag about me, it was really cool to work there, until like two months ago.”

Most workers had been laid off as they shrunk their operations at the onset of the pandemic. But after a short close, Surly Brewing Company started to run curbside pick-up and delivery early in the summer, like many other restaurants, to try to stay afloat during the pandemic.

Many employees expressed excitement at the minimal reopening, but they did not return to the Surly that they remembered.

Some workers said they felt unsafe due to lack of COVID-19 prevention in the restaurant, and that nontip-earning workers received no raise in pay, even though Surly advertised an automatic 15% gratuity for them.

Despite its popularity, the beer hall announced its intentions to close indefinitely at the beginning of September, citing financial struggles due to COVID-19, in an email statement given to the Minnesota Daily. The timing of the closure coinciding with the union discussions is only coincidence, according to the email statement.

This roused workers’ suspicions — just weeks before closing, Surly posted a job opening for a restaurant manager.

But the workers still believe that they can get that family back if Ansari is willing to recognize their union.

“If we can get this union going … even if we have to shut down for the winter … we’d love to come back next summer with the crew that we have, and do what we do,” Magill said.

While more than 110 hospitality workers are attempting to form the union, many community members are adding to the numbers. That includes people like University graduate student Kody Olson, who used to stock his fridge with Surly beer. Now, he is boycotting the business in support of the workers.

Long-time employee Megan Caswell asked David Witt, a local artist and son of long-time union members, to design art for the union movement. Witt immediately said yes. “I’m on the side of the workers,” he said, recalling watching his own parents strike for union rights in Minneapolis.

While the workers continue to negotiate recognition of their union with Ansari, many still gather for their after-shift beer around the famous Surly silo. They will be laid off at the start of November.

“The place really means a lot to me, but it’s the people that made it mean a lot to me,” Magill said.